Kicking some Cancer Ass

This party has officially started. And at this writing, I am dancing with the devil. The Red Devil, that is, a potent chemotherapy drug that goes in red, comes out red . After a bag of that, I get pumped with Taxotere, another super-duper strong drug with known side effects that I hope to manage with prevention. I started with an anti-nausea drip, and it seems to have helped.

Getting my port

Tuesday my port was installed. Why in  the absolute hell were we told to be at the hospital at 5:15 am to wait for a 9:00 surgery? Beats me. I’m just grateful for the wooly-warm blanket for the pre-op room that was set at, like 50 degrees F and the compression bandages and booties that wrapped my legs nice and tight.

The procedure was one-hour and a piece of cake once my twighlight drip kicked in, the only discomfort was the need to elevate my chest by ramming the equivalent of a half-moon-shaped wheel-barrow tire under my upper-back. Thank god they immediately inserted a muscle relaxant/pain killer IV as soon as I woke up. I’m still sore.You can also hop over this imp source to know how to get rid off muscle pain.

The next day, (I am now a day behind…) my new Frankenstonian appendage sticking out of my chest was angry red and very swollen. So angry, in fact, Dra. Cuevas suggested we wait a week for chemo to begin. HA! Hell to the NO!!! I want to get this party started, the sooner the better, for fuck’s sake!

Frankenstein Port

The Red Devil

So the IV went into my skinny little wrist once a suitable vein was located, and the next four-hours was really kind of anti-climactic. Jeff was by my side the whole time, except for the hour or so he escaped to the grocery store. Jeff hates to shop. He’s such a good boy!

For five consecutive days following chemo, Jeff gets to shoot me up with a white-blood cell booster to keep the numbers up. Without the shots, I am much more susceptable to infection, and worse.  Five days’s you ask? Well, yes. We could have opted for a single shot, but with our approach, we are paying $500 USD total per round following each round of chemo, as compared to $2000 USD for the single round following each chemo round.  (That’s gonna save us $9000 in the long run for me to be a pincushion) . As our “catastraophic” insurance policy does not cover any breast cancer issues (I know, right?) our out-of pocket expenses are 100%. We rationalized that with the savings, we could rent a beater car to get us back and forth to Dr’s appt’s, etc.  Pictures coming. A 4-on the floor VW bug.

Before  we left El Gato (at 4:45am), we had a private little smudging ceremony, fanning the flames of sage throughout the boat while reciting a blessing to cleanse the space and protect our home, to heal, bring strength and peace. Lovely, really. This experience has already brought me an inner peace and acceptance of things I cannot change, helping to rid me of long-held resentments and anger. As I’ve said before, a brilliant and beautiful therapist is helping me along on this journey. Plus next week I will begin acupuncture and other holistic and nutritional methods.

So with the help and support of this tribe of mine that grows by the day, I feel confident. I feel grateful. I feel loved.

Thank you all, and until next time,

No Pasa Nada